Rohingya crisis: ‘Bangladesh delegation to visit Myanmar soon’

A Bangladesh delegation is likely to visit Myanmar soon to inspect the progress of Rohingya rehabilitation process initiated at Rahkine State.  

Both the sides reached such decision during the second meeting of the Joint Working Group which is going on at the Bangladesh state guesthouse Meghna in Dhaka today, an office a government official who attended the meeting.

“Myanmar expresses its eagerness to allow the Bangladesh delegation. But the possible visiting date has yet been fixed,” the official said wishing to be unnamed.

Read More: Repatriation gets stuck

During the meeting, Bangladesh side underscored the need for ensuring a conducive condition for the smooth repatriation of Rohingya people who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar following persecution in Rakhine.   

Myanmar also assured its Bangladeshi counterpart saying that it would undertake all necessary steps to repatriate the refugees soon, according to the official.

Both Bangladesh and Myanmar sides underlined the need for quick repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, who is leading a 15-member team of the Bangladesh side, said earlier in the day.

“Such repatriation process is very complex and difficult too. Both the sides the underscored the need for quick repatriation of the Rohingyas,” he said.

The JWG is reviewing the progress of the repatriation of some 800,000 Rohingyas, who fled atrocities in Myanmar's Rakhine State since October 2016, he added.

The Myanmar delegation is being led by Permanent Secretary Myint Thu.

Nearly six months have passed since the signing of the Rohingya repatriation deal, but Myanmar is yet to take back a single of the refugees from Bangladesh.

The country verified the identity of only 878 Rohingyas out of 8,032 who were put on a list by Bangladesh three months ago for repatriation.

The first JWG meeting was held in Nay Pyi Daw, Myanmar on January 15-16.